


Frosen Steel Week Non-AU Oneshots

by Apathetic_Abstract_Apotheosis



Series: Frosen Steel Week [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Humor, Light Angst, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27188852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apathetic_Abstract_Apotheosis/pseuds/Apathetic_Abstract_Apotheosis
Summary: A collection of non-AU oneshots for Frosen Steel weekDay 1 - Beacon DaysDay 2 - Atlas NightsDay 3 - Maiden/Glyphs/Silver EyesDay 4 - Family/Meet the ParentsDay 5 - "Oh, I'm in Love"Day 6 - ConfessionsDay 7 - Combat SkirtsDay 8 - Free Day
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose, Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee, Penny Polendina/Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Series: Frosen Steel Week [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984754
Comments: 31
Kudos: 104





	1. Beacon Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss and Penny have been dating for a little while now, to the surprise of everyone and the jealousy of one person in particular.

Penny wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened, but she wasn’t at all displeased with the outcome. Weiss’ hand was warm in her own as they walked across the courtyard and the heiress chattered away about the history of the campus.

Penny knew all about it, of course, what with her computer for a brain and all, but Weiss loved educating people on things and Penny loved to see her talking so passionately about her interests.

“And the east wing was constructed using donations from several businesses in Vale, their names are all inscribed on a plaque just beside the entrance.” Weiss informed Penny as they walked past the wing Weiss described. All of Penny’s attention was on Weiss, on how her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm and how she gestured animatedly. If it weren’t for her enhanced senses, Penny would have completely missed their shadow.

She’d been following them on their last few outings around the Beacon campus, always a few metres behind them and just out of sight, so Weiss never noticed her. But Ruby Rose was clear as day to Penny, and she was currently pressed up behind a pillar, just peeking out from behind it with narrowed eyes.

Penny wasn’t entirely sure what this behaviour indicated. Ruby was the one who had introduced her to Weiss properly after they’d run into each other at the CCT Tower a couple of weeks ago. Weiss had tracked her down a few days later and stammered her way through an invitation to the Beacon dance. Penny had been confused, but delighted to accept the invitation, and the two of them had had an excellent evening.

They’d started dating formally not too long after that, and that was when this bemusing stalking began. The first time it had happened, Penny had called out to Ruby, thinking that they’d happened upon the young leader by chance. But instead of joining them as Penny had hoped, Ruby had squeaked in fear and vanished in a swirl of rose petals.

This pattern of following her and Weiss on their dates continued, and Penny was still no closer to solving the mystery. Perhaps it was one of those human things she never quite understood.

Of course! Penny could have smacked herself for not thinking of it sooner. She should just ask Weiss if someone’s friend following them on dates was normal. Weiss was very patient with her in explaining certain complexities of human interaction that her father hadn’t taught her yet, and she was also surprisingly understanding of her robotic nature.

Penny hadn’t felt comfortable dating someone who didn’t know about her true nature. She’d been so scared, but it felt so good to actually trust and tell someone on purpose rather than by accident. Weiss had been surprised at first, but took it in stride and became Penny’s primary tutor in human interactions, although she wasn’t sure if knowing which fork to use and when to use it at the dinner table was essential information.

“Weiss?” She asked when Weiss paused at the end of her story of how the statue of Ozymand came to be situated here and not in its original Kingdom of discovery. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course you can.” Weiss smiled brightly at her girlfriend. “What about?”

“Is it normal for people to follow their friends when they go out on dates?” She cocked her head at Weiss who seemed rather dumbfounded by the question.

“Normal to follow? Penny, has someone been following us on our dates?!” Weiss’ eyes flickered dangerously and she started looking around for their pursuer.

“Yes, Ruby has been tailing us for the last 23 minutes and 37 seconds.” Penny answered, not quite sure what the result of telling Weiss this would be. “She is currently concealed behind that tree over there.” Penny pointed out the tree she knew Ruby was hiding behind.

With a soft growl of irritation, Weiss began stalking over towards the hiding spot and called out to Ruby. “Ruby Rose! You get out here this instant!”

There was a loud squeak of fear from the tree and a burst of petals as Ruby sped off. Weiss tried to catch up to her, but it was a pointless endeavour. “You can’t avoid us forever, Ruby!” She yelled after the red streak. Penny joined Weiss’ side and watched Ruby vanish around the side of a building.

“So I take it that’s not normal behaviour, then?”

* * *

“Weiss, are you perhaps overreacting about this?” Penny asked worriedly as Weiss stalked along the hallways to her team’s dorms.

“She’s been following us, Penny! Infringing on our privacy!” Weiss gestured wildly as she complained, though she seemed a little more flustered than angry. Penny was getting a lot better at identifying emotions after spending all this time with Weiss.

“Maybe she was just curious?” Penny suggested as they turned the last corner onto the corridor with Team RWBY’s dorm.

“If she was curious, she could have just asked like a normal person.” Weiss fired back, marching up to the door and throwing it open.

“Ack! Jeez, Weiss, can’t you knock?” Yang yelped, leaping off of a very flustered looking Blake and straightening her shirt hurriedly.

“It’s my room too. I’ll leave you two to your canoodling soon.” Weiss snapped out in her no-nonsense tone. “Have either of you two seen Ruby?”

“No, I haven’t. Not since this morning at least.” Yang looked to Blake, who shook her head. “Why are you looking for her? What do you think she’s done wrong this time?”

“Not just thinking about it, Yang. Penny told me not twenty minutes ago that your sister has been spying on our dates, before I uncovered the fiend watching us at that very moment!” Weiss folded her arms and she fumed with righteous fury as Blake and Yang exchanged confused looks.

“Okay, that’s odd.” Yang’s mouth twisted into a frown. “I can’t think of why she’d do that.”

“Maybe she wants to protect you?” Blake suggested with a small shrug, sitting upright now. “I mean, you are her partner, Weiss. Perhaps she wants to make sure Penny doesn’t hurt you or something.”

“I might believe that.” Weiss conceded the point. “If she wasn’t Penny’s best friend.”

“Then maybe she wants to make sure you don’t hurt Penny.” Yang smirked a little and earned a dark scowl from Weiss.

“Well, we won’t know unless we actually talk to her and find out from the voyeur herself.” Weiss said, unsatisfied with this answer, though looking rather insecure now. “Can you call her, please, Yang?”

“Fine, but only because this is weirding me out too.” Yang agreed, pulling out her scroll and dialling up her sister. “Hey, Rubes, could you come to the dorm room? Blake and I need a hand with your bed, one of the knots came undone.” The was an indistinct reply from Ruby and Yang closed up the scroll. “She should be here soon, I take it you’ll want some privacy.”

“Yes, please. Sorry for interrupting yours and Blake’s alone time.”

“It’s okay, just remember you owe us. And if we want you out of the room some time in future, you do it, no questions asked.” Weiss nodded in agreement with these terms and Yang made her way over to the door. “Sweet. Come on, Blakey. I know a good supply closet nearby.”

Rolling her eyes at her partner, Blake joined Yang and the two left the room, leaving Weiss and Penny alone together.

“Are you sure this is such a good idea?” Penny asked nervously as Weiss grabbed one of the desk chairs and maneuvered it into the middle of the room. “Confronting Ruby like this.”

“Not really, but I’d rather we do things in a straightforward manner.” Weiss explained, sitting on the chair and awaiting Ruby’s arrival. There was a short silence as Penny hovered awkwardly, unsure where she should stand. “Penny, you know I’d never intentionally hurt you, right?”

“Of course I know you wouldn’t, Weiss, you’re a wonderful girlfriend!” Penny reassured the heiress, who smiled wanly.

“I guess, I just…” She sighed and rubbed at her temples. “What Yang said about Ruby wanting to make sure I wouldn’t hurt you. Ruby really wouldn’t think that low of me, right?”

“I don’t think so.” Penny hummed as she went through her databanks, trying to recall all she knew about Ruby and Weiss’ relationship. “The two of you got off to a rocky start, but from what I understand, you have a very strong relationship now.”

“That’s what I’d like to think, but what if it’s not?” Weiss looked up at Penny imploringly.

“Her opinion means a lot to you.” Penny concluded astutely. She was getting better at understanding nuance all the time. Weiss nodded hesitantly.

“I hate to admit it, but.” A guilty grimace crossed her face. “I actually was going to ask her to the Beacon dance instead of you.”

“Oh.” It felt like there was something unpleasant twisting in her circuit boards, a wholly new and unwelcome sensation it was as well.

“Please don’t take it to mean you were my second choice.” Weiss added quickly, getting up from her seat and taking Penny’s hands in her own. “I wanted to ask you as well as Ruby, but I chickened out. I… I got scared Ruby would reject me, and I’m not good with rejection.”

“Would you have gotten angry at her had she said no?” Weiss shook her head with a small laugh.

“More like I have a rather fragile sense of self-esteem and any blow to that can leave me a sobbing wreck for hours afterwards.” She admitted with an embarrassed smile. “But I knew you wouldn’t reject me, and you’re cute and peppy, and I like that in a girl.” Weiss blushed a little with this further admission. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Penny asked, tilting her head as she tried to calculate why Weiss would be sorry.

“I just admitted to you that I have feelings for another girl. One who’s been spying on our relationship for a while now.”

“Oh! Are we not supposed to have feelings for other people when dating someone?” Weiss blinked in what Penny was pretty sure was shock.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to.” She spluttered, seemingly thoroughly confused. “Wait, who do you even have feelings for?”

“Ruby, of course! She’s kind and helpful and she was my first friend!” Penny smiled brightly, but it dimmed as she realised something. “Oh no, but you like Ruby as well.”

“I did just admit that, yes.” Weiss still seemed befuddled by this revelation.

“Then we are in competition for her affections, right? That’s what happens in those romantic movies you like, two women like another and they compete for her love.” Penny explained, feeling as though her metal heart was breaking at the thought of having to fight her girlfriend.

“They’re not usually dating and in love though!” Weiss squawked before clapping her hands over her mouth.

“Did you just say that you love me?” Penny asked, her smile returning a little as Weiss shook her head frantically.

“No I didn’t!” She squeaked.

“I have a recording function, Weiss, I can play it back if you wish.” Penny had learned about this while teasing from Ruby and Yang. It was very fun to do to Weiss, she turned such interesting shades of pink when she did so.

“Fine, so I might be a teeny tiny bit in love with you, but that’s beside the point. We both just admitted we like Ruby just as we’re about to interrogate her about why she’s been spying on us.” Weiss pointed out, and Penny just shrugged.

“Well, if we’re not competing for her, why don’t we both date her?” Weiss’ jaw dropped, which Penny understood to be a neutral sign, so she waited for Weiss to respond properly.

“Both date her? What?!” Weiss ran a hand through her hair. “That’s ridiculous!”

“Why though? We both like her and if she likes us back, then we all date each other. It’s so simple.” Penny pointed out, and Weiss’ mouth flapped as she tried to come up with a reason why it wasn’t.

“But-but-.” She flailed before stopping dead still and lowering her gesticulating arms. “Wait, you’re right, why does it have to be like that? I was going to ask both of you to the dance if I hadn’t bottled it with Ruby.”

“Exactly. So we agree, we ask Ruby to date both of us.” Penny cheered enthusiastically before being caught and brought back down to Remnant by Weiss.

“Another time. Right now we need to establish why Ruby was spying on us.” As if on cue, the door to the dorm room burst open in a flurry of rose petals.

“Yang, Blake! I’m here to help. If we’re quick, Weiss won- and Weiss is right here!” Ruby screeched to a halt and hastily tried to backpedal, but Weiss was faster, surprised as she was. A glyph spun into life and slammed the door shut, leaving Ruby trapped in the room with her and Penny.

“We just want to talk, Ruby.” Weiss said in a deliberately measured tone, gesturing for Ruby to sit in the chair, which she did reluctantly. “We would just like to know why you’ve been spying on us on our dates.”

“Please don’t try to lie either, friend Ruby, I know you were there on all our previous dates. I have the records.” Penny tapped her head for emphasis. Ruby’s eyes flickered back and forth nervously, as though looking for an exit.

“We’re not mad, Ruby. Well I am a little, but you know how much I hate my privacy being invaded. So just tell us.” Weiss sighed, tapping her foot impatiently as Ruby struggled for words.

“I…” She swallowed loudly. “I… I was jealous!” Penny and Weiss exchanged surprised glances.

“What?”

“You two were so happy together, and I was jealous. I wanted it for myself. I’ve liked you both for ages, but you got with each other instead and left me on my own.” Ruby’s confession spilled out of her whilst Penny and Weiss’ surprised glances became prolonged looks. “I’m sorry, I know I’m weird, but I just wanted a small taste.”

“Ruby, it’s okay, calm down a little, please.” Penny reassured Ruby, patting her gently on the shoulder, whilst being unable to keep the wide grin off her face.

“O-Okay.” Ruby sniffed a little, then looked up at Penny, her eyebrows knitting in confusion. “Why are you smiling?”

“Because I think the three of us have some things we need to discuss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, starting off with a slight twist on what I see as the standard Frosen Steel dynamic by having Penny and Weiss dating initially. Also a bit of an experiment for me, writing a RWBY fic from the perspective of someone other than Weiss. 
> 
> I've set up a [discord](https://discord.gg/4t3y25e) so feel free to join and stuff, I'm pretty active there these days.
> 
> Big thanks to [machiavellianFictionist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/machiavellianFictionist) for proofreading and being just the best at it. Lots of thanks too to my lovely girlfriend [Ruby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyAndNanaAO3) for beta reading and cringing so amusingly at how inept these girls are at relationship things.
> 
> Thank you too to my official supporters, send a PM or hop on the discord server for details.


	2. Atlas Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby, Weiss and Penny are finally reunited in Atlas after a year apart, but has that been too much time for them?

“So, where are you girls going?” Yang asked as she lazed around on her bed with Blake, watching as Ruby and Weiss got ready for their date.

“Penny won’t say, it’s supposed to be a surprise.” Weiss answered as she touched up Ruby’s lip gloss. “All she told us was not to eat dinner, so I imagine we’re going to a restaurant.”

“I’m excited! This is going to be so much fun!” Ruby chirped, admiring herself in the mirror once Weiss had finished.

“Well, don’t do anything I would do.” Yang wiggled her eyebrows at the pair, who groaned loudly in tandem.

“Yaaaaang, don’t make this weird.” Ruby whined, pouting over at her sister.

“This is the first date we’ve been on since we got back together, there’s a lot we need to get back into the swing of.” Weiss added, finishing off her own makeup. “We’re going to take things slow.”

“But the three of you were so close back at Beacon.” Yang frowned in disappointment.

“That was back at Beacon, sweetie, over a year ago. Things have changed.” Blake reminded Yang gently with a small nudge. “All three of them have changed. Well, our girls have for sure.”

“I still can’t believe I was stuck here for so many months and Penny was being rebuilt only a few miles away.” Weiss grumped, getting gracefully to her feet and giving a small twirl to examine her new fancy dress.

“Well, we’re back together now, and we’re going on a happy date!” Hopping to her feet as well, Ruby pulled Weiss into a hug. “We should enjoy ourselves.”

“You’re right… I’m just a little nervous.” Weiss admitted a little shamefacedly. “What if that year was too much? It took us a while to work out ‘us’ after we reunited.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Weiss.” Yang reassured her, getting up to give the ex-heiress a hug. “Go out and enjoy yourselves.”

“I’ll try.” Weiss smiled and returned the hug before stepping back. “What are you and Blake going to do whilst we’re out?”

“Eh, nothing much, probably going to stay in and watch a movie.”

“That’s Yang code for making out and more.” Ruby whispered with a smirk, earning a small huff from her sister.

“Just remember to knock before coming in when you get back.” Blake told them with a smirk of her own. “Have fun!”

Waving goodbye to the two, Weiss and Ruby left the dorm hand in hand and made their way to the lifts. Penny was waiting eagerly for them at the base of the tower, bouncing on the balls of her feet expectantly.

“Salutations!” She called out, zipping over and pulling the two into a bone-crushing hug. “Are you two ready for a night out on the town?”

“Urk, yes.” Ruby choked out as Penny released them and stepped back, beaming brightly. “So, are you going to tell us where we’re going?”

“Oh, yes! I thought I could show you the sights of Atlas. We get a wonderful view of the tundra up here, and the aurora is supposed to be particularly spectacular tonight!” Penny threw up her hands in one of her usual over-the-top gestures. “And then we can eat dinner!”

“Sounds great.” Weiss’ smile was a little pained as she massaged her ribs. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the aurora.”

“I’m glad! I was a little worried you would have seen all of these things before.” Penny confided as she started to lead the way out of the academy and into the city of Atlas.

“Even if I’d been a hundred times before, I’d still want to go with the two of you.” Weiss reassured Penny, and she was sure that if she could, the robotic girl would be blushing furiously.

“Since when did you get so smooth?” She asked when her fit of embarrassment had passed. “What happened to the Weiss who stumbled over her words when asking if she could kiss me?”

Weiss and Ruby exchanged unhappy glances before Weiss spoke. “She watched her girlfriend get dismembered on a live feed and was forcibly taken away from her other one. She had to grow up and get over herself.” She shrugged and felt a stab of guilt as Penny deflated a little.

“Oh, right.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” Weiss apologised quickly, reaching out to take Penny’s hand. “Let’s not dwell on the past. Where to first, Sweet Pea?”

“I was thinking we could go to the park.” Penny smiled a little. “I like looking at all the plants, and there’s a nice viewing platform with a bench.”

“Sounds like a plan, Sweet Pea.” Glancing around quickly to make sure people weren’t paying too much attention to them, Weiss leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Penny’s cheek.

“Weissssss.” She whined, and Weiss saw, on Penny’s other side, a mischievous grin spread across Ruby’s face.

“Oh, Pennyyyyy.” She singsonged, and when the girl turned to look at her, she was ambushed with a swift kiss from Ruby on her other cheek.

“Ruby, not you too.” Penny pouted at her other girlfriend. “Evil! The both of you.”

“Love you too.” Ruby and Weiss chorused before breaking into giggles.

“Maybe you two don’t deserve to go out on a date with me, then.” Penny huffed, folding her arms in mock anger.

“Nooooo! I’m sorry, Penny. We were just teasing, right, Weiss?” Ruby clung onto Penny’s arm and looked imploringly at her.

“Just some teasing. You’re not really mad, are you?” Weiss asked, a sliver of anxiety creeping into her voice.

“I’m not, Princess.” Penny reassured her, patting Weiss gently on her head. “You’re okay.” Weiss sniffed a little and latched onto Penny’s other arm. She’d missed this, holding onto Penny’s arm whilst Ruby held the other, but something felt a little off about it.

When they’d lost Penny at Beacon, it felt like irreparable damage had been done to their relationship. When Ruby and Weiss had finally made their way back to one another, but it had felt like there was this sword hanging over them, the memory of the person who should have been there with them.

Somehow, however, their relationship had survived both the loss of their partner and the long distance, but it had changed so much in doing so. Now they had Penny back, and Weiss knew she should feel so joyful that their love had been returned to them. And yet… And yet.

* * *

Despite living in Atlas for most of her life, Weiss had never been to Atlas Central Park before. She’d been to garden parties, but had rarely ventured out of the district Schnee Manor was in. It had an almost ethereal feel to it. The paths were lit by Dust crystals that floated gently above pylons of twisted and filigreed metals which cast their pale light over the trees and flower beds.

The three young women walked slowly along one of the paths that wound its way up a hill, occasionally pausing whenever Penny pointed out a particularly lovely flower. Weiss and Ruby would have been doing the same, if their gazes weren’t so firmly fixed on a far more lovely sight.

In the gentle glow of the Dust, Penny somehow seemed even more ephemeral, like this was all some beautiful dream in which she’d been returned to them. Weiss clung to Penny’s arm just a little harder at the thought. They’d lost Penny once before, and she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her again.

Gazing lovingly at her girlfriend’s face, Weiss comforted herself by counting the spray of freckles there. It was how she knew this really was Penny, Weiss had counted those freckles so many times back at Beacon, and they were perfectly replicated here.

“Do I have something on my face?” Penny asked suddenly, jolting Weiss out of her count.

“No, nothing there.” She smiled at Penny with faint amusement. “Am I not allowed to admire my gorgeous girlfriend?” Penny let out a tiny squeak and looked away. Weiss giggled at Penny’s bashfulness and they continued up the path.

At the top of the hill, it opened out onto a large platform built onto the side of a cliff. There were a few benches there with a clear view over the park and the city skyline beyond. Penny led her girlfriends over to one of the benches and sat down on it, Weiss and Ruby flanking her as before.

Sitting down had the added bonus of lowering Penny to the same level as Weiss, so she could now rest her head on Penny’s shoulder. Back at Beacon, Penny’s short hair would brush up against Weiss’ head whenever she did this. Now that it was waist length, it didn’t, and for some reason it made her feel both uncomfortable and reassured at the same time.

It was difficult to put the feelings into words. Weiss wasn’t even entirely sure what they were. So instead she pushed them aside and tried to focus on the warmth of Penny beneath her cheek.

“If my calculations are correct, the aurora should become visible soon.” Penny informed her girlfriends excitedly, and Weiss cast her eyes up at the redhead’s face to see her gazing up at the dark night sky with an expectant smile. Weiss then shot a glance at Ruby and was surprised to see she was also looking up at Penny rather than the sky.

The silver of Ruby’s eyes seemed a little duller than usual, even though she was smiling contentedly, snuggled as she was into Penny’s side. Weiss looked down at Penny’s hands resting in her lap and entangled with Ruby and Weiss’. Penny’s hands were surprisingly delicate, and quite frankly, a marvel of engineering. Yang had told her at length at how difficult it was to construct an accurate facsimile of the Human/Faunus hand and how difficult it was for her to perform delicate tasks now with that hand. That Penny could hold her hand so gently and carefully intertwine their fingers was really quite incredible, and spoke to just how lucky Weiss was to have such an amazing girlfriend.

“Weiss, you’re not looking.” Penny chided, breaking Weiss out of her reverie. “Ruby, neither are you.” Looking up, Weiss saw that the aurora had indeed blazed to life above them, casting its faint greenish glow upon them. As she raised her gaze to the heavens, though, Weiss’ attention was once again captivated by a far lovelier sight.

Penny’s bright green eyes were wide as they reflected the twisting lights and as she smiled in wonder. Weiss really had missed that sense of wonder Penny had for almost everything. It never failed to bring a smile to her own lips, except for now, it seemed. Seeing Penny smile just like she had back at Beacon felt inexplicably heartbreaking, like it didn’t quite fit anymore.

Oh, so that was it. Weiss blinked in surprise as the pieces fell into place for her and a heavy weight dropped in her chest. She and Ruby had changed so much over the last year, their relationship had needed to change to accommodate for the loss of Penny, and now they had Penny back. And even if she looked different, there was still enough of the old Penny that it just felt wrong. Like trying to fit a square peg into hole that was now round.

With this revelation weighing heavily on her, Weiss couldn’t help but wonder, could they fit Penny back into their relationship? Weiss longed for her lost love and the familiarity of it, but at the same time, it bumped up against the new Weiss and Ruby, and it didn’t mesh quite right.

Suppressing a deep sigh, Weiss tore her gaze away from Penny and looked up at the sky. They could worry about things like that later. They had Penny back and right now. That was all that mattered. After all, it would be a waste of a beautiful evening to worry about such things. Humming softly, Weiss nuzzled into Penny’s side and watched the aurora dance above them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up being angstier than I originally intended, the original concept was something along the lines of them going out to see the sights of Atlas but Ruby and Weiss far preferred to look at Penny and you can see some of that still there in the text.
> 
> I've set up a [discord](https://discord.gg/4t3y25e) so feel free to join and stuff, I'm pretty active there these days.
> 
> Big thanks to [machiavellianFictionist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/machiavellianFictionist) for proofreading and being so encouraging with this. Lots of thanks too to my lovely girlfriend [Ruby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyAndNanaAO3) for beta reading.
> 
> Thank you too to my official supporters, send a PM or hop on the discord server for details.


	3. Maiden/Glyphs/Silver Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whilst resting in Mantle after repelling Salem's initial attack, Weiss begins to wonder what she contributes to the group when her girlfriends are so much more powerful than her.

It had been a very long and very tiring day. Weiss, Ruby and Penny were all recuperating in their safe house down in Mantle. Blake and Nora had gone out earlier on to get some food, leaving the three girlfriends alone in the living room.

“Ow.” Ruby mumbled in her sleep for the twenty-third time since they’d got back, as she cradled her bruised ribs. Salem’s initial assault had been repelled, but there were still swarms of Grimm flooding the city. The three of them had been forced to cover a large contingent of terrified civilians as they retreated to one of the safe zones.

The people’s fear had drawn so many pursuing Grimm, including several Goliaths. Those had been the breaking point, and Ruby and Penny had been forced to use their silver eyes and Maiden powers respectively. They’d saved the civilians, but exhausted themselves in the process, forcing Weiss to all but carry them to safety.

Now she sat on a chair watching over them as they lay against each other on the sofa. Weiss was surprised Penny needed so much time to recuperate. Dr Polendina had no explanation for it either. He was baffled by how Penny could even inherit the Maiden powers. Her eyes were closed, and to the untrained eye, she could be mistaken for being dead. Weiss was used to her girlfriend by now though, and her ear could easily pick out the faint whir of motors that kept her essential systems ticking over.

Ruby, on the other hand, kept drifting in and out of sleep. Something had happened when she’d used her silver eyes, like something was blocking them, and it had taken her a great deal of effort to unleash their power.

“Weiss…” She whined, waking up and looking around for her partner. “Where are you?”

“I’m here, Ruby.” Weiss called out softly and Ruby turned her bleary gaze over to her. “How are your eyes?”

“They still hurt. My everything still hurts.” Ruby moaned before drifting off again. Silently, Weiss cursed herself for what must have been the hundredth time that day. She hated seeing the two women she loved like this, lying exhausted and in pain whilst she was unharmed and unable to do anything.

All she’d been able to do was stand and watch as her girlfriends unleashed their respective powers upon the oncoming Goliaths. Compared to them, her abilities were pitiful. What could she do, other than summon a giant knight that still drained her as she fought?

Nothing.

She didn’t have magical powers or eyes that were a gift from a god, nor was she burdened with this great responsibility that came with these gifts. She supposed she should be grateful for this, but instead, all she could think of was how they weighed upon the women she loved and how she wished she could take some of their burdens for them.

Ruby always took on too much responsibility, and she was still so young, barely seventeen and forced to lead them all against an immortal hellbent on destroying them all. Weiss knew without a doubt that, if she had to, Ruby would gladly sacrifice herself to save even one person, and the thought terrified her.

And then there was Penny, who had only recently shouldered her own burden of the Winter Maiden’s powers and was now hunted by not only Salem, but by Cinder and even Ironwood. Penny, who was somehow even more bright and optimistic than their beloved Ruby, had taken on this vast responsibility with no care for herself.

They’d all been running themselves ragged trying to save as many people as they could, but Ruby and Penny had been pushing themselves that much harder than everyone else. And all the while, Weiss had chased after them, imploring them to be careful, not to get themselves hurt and to remember that they had limits.

But they just didn’t listen. They told her they had these powers for a reason and that they had to use them to make sure people would be safe. So that just left her to follow along after them. Poor weak little Weiss who never won a fight, who got impaled through the stomach and ever since found it hard to breath sometimes, and was just that little bit less flexible than she was because of the scarring.

She was weak, far weaker than her girlfriends, even when they weren’t using their special powers. She just held them back, and all she could do was look after them in these brief moments when they overexerted themselves.

Tiring of wallowing in this negativity, Weiss got up and walked into the small kitchen in an attempt to escape them, only for the thoughts to follow her. This was all she was good for really, supporting people who were better than her, more talented.

Looking around, Weiss eventually found the clean mugs on a high shelf and as she reached up to grab one, the scar in her stomach ached. Despite Jaune’s assistance in healing her, every so often she still felt the phantom pain of Cinder’s spear stabbing into her.

Whenever it happened, It was yet another reminder of how weak she was in comparison to Ruby and Penny. They would never have gotten blindsided by that witch, wouldn’t have needed to be brought back from the brink of death.

Taking down a mug, Weiss filled it from the tap and took a long drink. The cool water helped ground her a little, helped her to think a little more clearly. She was a valuable member of the team and strong in her own way.

Still, it was an inescapable fact that she was the weakest and lacking in the raw power so many of them possessed. Sighing deeply, Weiss finished off her water and placed the mug in the sink to be washed up later before returning to the living room.

“Weiss, where did you go?” It seemed that, whilst Weiss had been in the kitchen, Ruby had woken up again and had missed her.

“I just went to get a drink, Ruby. I’m still here.” Weiss reassured her, walking over to the sofa and patting Ruby comfortingly on the shoulder.

“Want cuddles.” Ruby pouted, holding out her arms. With a small sigh, Weiss accepted, allowing Ruby to pull her into an embrace, and with a bit of maneuvering, shifted Weiss to lie between her and Penny. “Still hurty.”

“I know, love. You’ll get better soon though.” Weiss told her, wrapping her arms around Ruby and shuffling back to press against Penny. Ruby looked down at her in adoration before her eyes knitted in concern. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re thinking about something bad.” Ruby said, prodding at Weiss’ forehead. “Your forehead is doing that crinkly thing it always does when you’re thinking about bad stuff.”

“It is not!” Weiss protested, trying to control her expression and ultimately failing.

“Yes it is. Now tell me what you’re thinking about.” Ruby insisted, frowning sternly at her girlfriend.

“It’s nothing, I’m just being silly.” Weiss tried to deflect, but Ruby wasn’t having it.

“Weiss, tell me, please.” After a moment’s squirming, Weiss finally relented.

“I’m just holding you and Penny back. I don’t have silver eyes or Maiden powers. I’m just Weiss, boring useless Weiss.” She admitted shamefacedly, unwilling to look up at Ruby, who hummed in disapproval.

“You don’t hold us back, Weiss.” She said firmly, reaching up and running a hand through Weiss’ unbound tresses.

“Yes I do.” Weiss frowned stubbornly in the face of Ruby’s unwavering support. “I can’t do anything you two can do and I’m not strong enough to even share some of the burdens of your responsibilities, let alone shoulder them myself.” Fighting back tears of shame, Weiss buried her face in Ruby’s side to avoid looking at her.

“Weiss, you’re so much more than how good you are at fighting.” Ruby told her as she continued to stroke her hair. “And you’re not defined by what you bring to a relationship either. We love you, not what you do.”

Weiss didn’t answer, instead she buried herself deeper into Ruby in a vain attempt to escape her words of support and love.

“And if we were basing stuff on that, you do more than enough. You keep me and Penny grounded, whilst we’re off doing ill-advised things that get us hurt. You’re always there telling us to be careful and looking after us when we’re not. Like right now.”

Whining softly, Weiss extricated herself to look up at Ruby with teary eyes. “You promise?”

“I promise, Weiss. You’re not useless, and you’re just as good and strong as me and Penny.”

“Okay…” Weiss still felt doubtful, but it was a lot easier to ignore those doubts when she was tucked between her loves. She might not have magic powers, but she’d always be there to fight alongside her girlfriends until the end, and that was what mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was perhaps the angstiest of all the oneshots I've written for this week, and to me at least, felt like a natural progression from the prompt. People joke about Weiss never winning fights, but as far as I've seen, don't tend to explore how that feels for her especially surrounded by these magically empowered people. 
> 
> I've set up a [discord](https://discord.gg/4t3y25e) so feel free to join and stuff, I'm pretty active there these days.
> 
> Big thanks to [machiavellianFictionist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/machiavellianFictionist) for proofreading and putting in all the work that requires. Lots of thanks too to my lovely girlfriend [Ruby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyAndNanaAO3) for beta reading and encouraging me.
> 
> Thank you too to my official supporters, send a PM or hop on the discord server for details.


	4. Family/Meet the Parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penny is reactivated in Atlas after the events of the Fall of Beacon and is assigned Winter Schnee as a handler, all she has to do is not let slip she's been dating Winter's younger sister. Easy, right?

The first thing Penny did when she was reactivated was scream in shock and fall to the floor. It took her a little while to get her bearings as she stood up and hastily checked her chassis. Last thing she remembered was her wires cutting through her body and her systems shutting down.

“Penny? Are you okay?” A familiar voice startled her and she jumped before she was able to focus on her father.

“Father, what, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Atlas?” Penny then checked her location data. “What am I doing in Atlas? I was in Vale and-” Another thought occurred to her, the very last thing she’d seen before now. “Where’s Ruby?!”

“Penny, please calm down.” Her father tried to reassure her. Suddenly, she realised something was very wrong with her hair. It was long!

“What happened?!”

* * *

It took a few hours to properly calm Penny down and explain to her what had happened. She was very distressed to learn that, not only did no one know what had happened to Ruby, but that her other girlfriend had vanished from Schnee manor only a few days prior.

It had taken quite a lot of persuasion from both her father and General Ironwood to not immediately go looking for the both of them, though they were rather confused as to why she was so determined to find them.

Not telling anyone about her relationship with the two girls was possibly the most disobedient thing Penny had ever done, but she was certain that no one would fully understand it, not like Ruby and Weiss understood. Her father loved her, and she loved him, but he would always see her as a machine. He had designed her, after all, and was intimately familiar with what he thought made her tick.

Ruby and Weiss hadn’t cared that her heart was made of metal or that she’d been made rather than born. They understood that her feelings weren’t just programmed, that she’d somehow grown beyond her initial parameters. Her father and Ironwood had always intended for her to grow, but she was fairly certain that this development was not what they had in mind for her.

This was made even more clear when Ironwood had promptly assigned her to be the protector of Mantle. She didn’t have to pretend to be human anymore, which was something of a relief. What was less of a relief was who was assigned to be her handler.

When she first saw her, Penny’s first thought was that she’d been lied to about how long she’d been inactive for. She’d nearly spilled the beans about her relationship right then and there, before she was reminded this was not Weiss, but her older sister Winter.

Winter was very different to Weiss, and Penny wasn’t sure what to make of it. She could see the familial resemblance, the sisters had the same eye colour and ivory hair. Other than that though, the two couldn’t be more different. Despite how much Weiss had idolised and emulated her sister.

Winter was all about business, no time for irrelevant conversations whilst on the job. Even when they weren’t on active duty, she was disinclined to any kind of casual conversation, which both suited and discomforted Penny.

Penny adored conversing with people about even the most irrelevant and meaningless things. It gave her an opportunity to connect with them. Of course, not conversing with Winter reduced the chances of Penny letting something slip about her relationship with Weiss.

From what she understood of some of the movies Ruby had shown her and Weiss, family members were inherently against the younger ones dating and would relentlessly interrogate the suitor. Penny liked Winter enough that she really didn’t want that to happen.

And yet, she was finding it surprisingly hard not to accidentally say something incriminating. Such as the time Winter once idly mentioned the events of Weiss’ thirteenth birthday and Penny almost accidentally mentioned having heard the story before, which would have led to some very awkward questions had Penny not subtly steered the conversation away.

There was also that time when Winter had, in a rare fit of levity, suggested she and Penny watch a movie together on one of their rare nights off. Of course it had been one of the few movies Weiss had suggested they watch, and she’d nearly mentioned that she’d both seen it before and that it was Weiss’ favourite movie.

It was hard not having the two girls she loved with her, not knowing what had happened to them. They both almost certainly thought that she was dead, and Penny wondered whether Ruby and Weiss’ relationship had been able to survive.

The three of them had all gotten together at the same time, and all were under the understanding that they were a cohesive unit of three. If one of them were to say die unexpectedly, Penny had no idea how the other two would cope.

Penny kept having all these thoughts and more, and she had nobody she could tell about them. Back at Beacon during her all too brief time with Ruby and Weiss, if she ever needed advice from someone who wasn’t her girlfriend, she had learned to rely upon Yang. She was just as much a big sister to her and Weiss as she was to Ruby, something Penny knew Weiss really appreciated, given how distant her sister could be.

But of course, Penny had no such support anymore. She’d vaguely entertained the notion of trying to make a new friend, but she didn’t really have time for that, and it felt wrong to just make a friend for the sole purpose of having someone she could vent to.

She really was all alone.

* * *

“Do you miss your sister at all?” Winter choked a little on her drink at the out-of-the-blue question. The two had been given a brief reprieve from their duties and were taking advantage of the Officer’s Breakroom.

“What?” Winter asked, setting down her drink and staring at Penny who had her head cocked curiously.

“Your sister, Weiss. Do you not miss her?” Penny could have patted herself on her back for how clever she was being with this line of questioning. She’d come to the inevitable conclusion that she required some form of support, and by asking Winter about Weiss, she could ascertain Winter’s suitability as that support.

“Of course I miss her. I worry about her every day, as I’m sure you do too.” Penny’s circuits stuttered a little at this, and she stared wide-eyed at Winter.

“Why would I miss your sister? I barely know her.” Penny tried but Winter laughed quietly, it unnerved Penny a little since she’d never heard the woman laugh before.

“I find that hard to believe since you were dating her.” Winter smirked over the top of her glass at Penny, who opened and closed her mouth in shock for several long moments.

“How did you know? I never said anything, and I was especially good about not mentioning how good a kisser Weiss is, even though she is very good and everyone should know just how lucky I am.” Winter winced and spat out her drink.

“Maybe don’t mention that to your girlfriend’s sister. It makes things awkward.” She told Penny as she wiped her chin off. “As for how I know, Weiss told me back at Beacon. Practically bragged, even.” She frowned a little, clearly remembering the incident, whilst Penny continued to try to process this revelation.

“She told you? But I was under the impression you and Weiss weren’t very close. She told me as such.” Penny asked, very confused by this sudden change in dynamic as Winter winced again and took a large swig of her drink.

“We’re not. Not as close as I’d like us to be.” She muttered, staring at the bottom of her glass. “I can’t be there for her very much, not after I joined the academy, but we still talk, and she keeps me up to date with things that happen in her life. Things like dating two women at once.”

“I’m sorry, I should have told you.” Penny stammered, not sure what to make of this. Winter had known for months that she and Weiss had been in a relationship, and yet she clearly hadn’t said anything to the General.

“It’s fine. It’s not really my business who my sister dates.”

“But it is your business. I’m your subordinate, and such attachments could interfere with my ability to perform my duties.” Penny pointed out, not sure why she was questioning what was almost certainly a stroke of good fortune.

“Do you think your relationship with my sister or Miss Rose will interfere with your ability to function as the protector of Mantle?” Penny shook her head vehemently. “Then there’s no problem.” Glancing up from her glass, Winter saw the still sceptical look on Penny’s face, so she set the glass down and turned to face Penny properly.

“I did consider informing the General when I first learned of your relationship.” Winter admitted, a guilty frown crossing her face. “I did think such a thing could impact your performance in the tournament.”

“Then why didn’t you tell him?”

“Because Weiss told me about your other girlfriend, and more specifically, her sister.” Winter sighed, rubbing her temples. “How supportive she was of your relationship, and how good of an older sister she was to Miss Rose.”

“Why did that change your mind?” Penny asked curiously, wondering what Yang had to do with Winter’s change of heart.

“Because the way Weiss talked about Miss Xiao Long it sounded like she was a better sister to Weiss in less than a year than I’d been to her for her entire life.” Winter cast her gaze down guiltily and reached out blindly for her drink. “So I decided to be a better sister and let her be happy.”

“Oh…” Penny felt her face heat up as her processors were forced to overclock to properly comprehend this.

“You and Ruby were good for her. It was the right thing to do, the sisterly thing to do, to leave the three of you be.” Winter drained her glass and got up to pour herself a fresh one but was halted by a hand from Penny.

“You are a good sister to Weiss.” She insisted firmly. “Even if you can’t be present for her as much as you want to be.”

“That’s nice of you to say, Penny, but I think being physically present is rather important, and what Weiss needs more than just some nebulous support from afar.” Winter smiled faintly at the robotic girl, but Penny didn’t release her grip as she steeled herself to ask.

“Weiss might not be here, but I am.” Winter’s smile shifted into a shocked expression, then a wider smile, and she nodded. With a small squeal of joy, Penny launched herself at Winter and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Urk, okay, ground rule number one, I might be trying to be a good sister, but hugs are out.” Winter gasped out as Penny hummed, happily ignoring what Winter was saying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to do a bit more with the Penny and Winter relationship in the context of Frosen Steel and how Winter would feel about it. I like Winter and I really should use her as a character more often. 
> 
> I've set up a [discord](https://discord.gg/4t3y25e) so feel free to join and stuff, I'm pretty active there these days.
> 
> Big thanks to [machiavellianFictionist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/machiavellianFictionist) for proofreading. Lots of thanks too to my lovely girlfriend [Ruby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyAndNanaAO3) for beta reading and being super cute.
> 
> Thank you too to my official supporters, send a PM or hop on the discord server for details.


	5. "Oh, I'm in love."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penny keeps encountering this strange bug whenever she's around Team RWBY and is determined to discover what the cause could possible be.

For several days now there had been something very wrong with Penny. She had run every diagnostic she knew, checked and double-checked her circuitry and written a full set of unit tests for her programming, but none of them could find anything wrong with her.

At first she’d thought it was a bug from being reconstructed, a crossed wire somewhere. The only flaw in that theory was that the bug hadn’t manifested when she was first reactivated. Instead, it had only started occurring when Team RWBY and their friends arrived in Mantle.

She’d felt it the moment she first caught sight of them, a strange tightening in her chest that had only gotten stronger as time went on. All she had to do was just be in their presence for a moment for her processors to start overclocking and that odd tightness to manifest.

If her various tests couldn’t identify the cause, she would have to perform a few experiments. She knew it only occurred whenever she was with Team RWBY, but she wasn’t sure if it was something to do with the whole team, or an individual member. Her current theory was some sort of strange Aura interactions that affected her Aura storage systems.

“Penny? You in there?” Penny’s thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the shoulder and she let out a yelp before spinning round. She’d been so wrapped up in her planning she’d completely forgotten she’d elected to use the break room as her headquarters.

“Oh, Ruby! I didn’t hear you come in.” Penny grinned as her chest tightened and her cooling fans began whirring just a little bit faster.

“I was looking for you. I thought you might like to join me and Weiss. We’re going out to watch a movie.” Ruby tilted her head inquisitively as she awaited Penny’s answer.

“Thank you for the offer, Ruby, but I’m afraid I must decline. I have other plans for today.” She said and something lower in her belly clenched when Ruby’s smile faded a little.

“Oh, okay. Well, have fun with that!” Ruby’s smile came back, but there was something off about it as she waved goodbye and left the room. Penny puzzled for a moment over Ruby’s behaviour before dismissing it. She had a new data point, the bug occurred whenever she was in the presence of Ruby, and with her and Weiss going out, that gave Penny the perfect opportunity to test her hypothesis on Blake and Yang.

* * *

Blake was easy enough to locate, the cat Faunus’ love of books made her movements rather predictable. Penny watched from just behind a bookcase as Blake sat at a table reading. Her ears would twitch every so often and she seemed to be enjoying herself and the book.

Penny, however, was getting no reaction from observing Blake. Of course, to conclusively prove that this bug wasn’t triggered by Blake, she would have to get a lot closer. As quietly as she could, Penny slipped out from behind the bookshelf and stepped lightly towards the Faunus.

“Hello, Penny.” The robot had to stifle a loud squeak of shock as she was addressed by the Faunus, who looked up from her book and over her shoulder at her. “Care to explain why you’re sneaking around behind me?”

“How did you know I was there and that it was me?” Penny asked, abandoning stealth and joining Blake at the table.

“These aren’t just for show.” Blake wiggled her ears. “I could hear your footsteps, and the cooling fans let me know it was you.” Penny nodded in understanding, clearly if she was ever employed on a stealth mission she would have to be extra aware of Faunus. “So, why were you sneaking up on me, and did Ruby or Yang put you up to it?”

“No, I am here upon my own volition.” Penny chirped, scrutinising Blake closely. She didn’t feel any different to how she usually felt. Frowning a little, Penny leaned forward and brought her hand close to Blake’s.

“Okay? Now you’re being rather strange.” Blake’s eyes were narrowed at Penny as she withdrew. She believed this was a conclusive test. She was unaffected by Blake’s presence. And as she was unaffected, there wasn’t much reason to conceal her experiments from Blake, what with there being little chance of it altering the results.

“I am performing an experiment.” Penny informed Blake brightly, though this did not seem to clarify things for the Faunus so Penny elaborated. “Ever since you and your team arrived in Atlas I have been experiencing this unusual bug in my operation.”

“A bug?” Blake’s confused look became concerned. “Is it dangerous to you?”

“No, at least I don’t think so.” Penny tilted her head in thought. She was pretty sure this bug was not a critical issue, but it was consistent enough that it warranted investigation. “It only manifests whenever I am around Team RWBY, but I was unable to determine if it was your team as a whole or some of the individual members.”

“And I take it since you’re telling me, I didn’t trigger your bug?” Blake asked and Penny nodded. The Faunus always was quick on the uptake. It made conversations a lot easier.

“That’s correct. So far my data indicates that Ruby sets it off. I have yet to test with Weiss and Yang.” Something shifted in Blake’s expression when Penny mentioned that Ruby’s presence was one of the conditions for the bug.

“What actually does this bug do?” Blake asked, her mouth twisted into a frown.

“It causes this unusual tightness in my chest, which is most peculiar, since I don’t have any servos there. Also, my processors start to overclock as well, but not so much so as to damage me.” Blake was nodding along as Penny listed off her symptoms.

“I see. I might actually have an idea of what’s wrong with you, I just need to know a couple more things.” Penny’s face lit up in excitement. Blake might know what was wrong with her!

“Of course, what do you need.” She asked eagerly.

“How do you feel when you see Ruby smiling?” Penny blinked, that was an unusual question, still if Blake thought she knew what was wrong.

“I feel… good? Like I want to make sure that she keeps smiling all the time.”

“Mhmm, and what about when she frowns?” Penny knew this one. She’d experienced it only a little earlier and could remember clearly.

“I get this clenching in my abdominal area, it feels really uncomfortable.”

“Like, seeing Ruby upset upsets you and you want to do anything to make her smile again?” Blake probed further and after a moment, Penny nodded.

“I think that’s accurate.” Blake had a weirdly smug smile on her face and she mumbled something about winning a bet under her breath before speaking to Penny properly.

“Penny, it’s not a bug it’s-.” Blake was interrupted by an alarm going off, and Penny received a transmission about a Grimm incursion down in Mantle.

“I’m sorry, Blake, but I must attend to this. You can tell me later.” With a jaunty wave, Penny got up and ran for the exit to take care of the attack. She’d be back before Blake noticed she was gone.

* * *

The Grimm attack hadn’t taken long to end, but now that Penny had returned to the academy, she was unable to find Blake anywhere. Penny had gone straight back to the library only to find it devoid of any Blakes. The cat Faunus hadn’t been in any of her other usual haunts either, and now Penny was trying the last place she needed to check, the Team RWBY dorm.

Penny knocked politely and waited for a moment as a faint voice called that they were coming. It didn’t sound like Blake though, the voice was too high, and when the door was opened, Penny’s suspicions were confirmed. It wasn’t Blake, but Weiss who stood framed in the doorway looking at her expectantly.

“Hello, Penny.” The ex-heiress smiled brightly at Penny, and she felt her chest tighten. “What brings you to our dorm?”

“I was looking for Blake.” Penny explained as she catalogued this data. It seemed that Ruby wasn’t the only one to trigger this strange bug. Weiss’ smile fell a bit, and it felt like something inside Penny did the same thing.

“Oh, she’s not here right now.” Weiss’ tone was a little clipped, and it made Penny feel oddly uncomfortable, so she quickly changed the subject.

“How come you’re here? I thought you and Ruby were going to watch a movie.”

“We were, but we felt it wouldn’t be as fun without you.” Weiss explained, still frowning a little.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Penny felt that same uncomfortable twisting in her abdomen as earlier. “I would have loved to come, but I had prior arrangements.”

“I understand. Sorry, I’m just being silly.” Weiss waved a hand and her smile returned a little as Penny wondered what Weiss thought she was being silly about. “If you made previous plans, you shouldn’t just break them.” The white-haired girl sighed a little. “Anyway, Yang might know where Blake is. I think she’s in the training rooms.”

“Alright, thank you, Weiss.” Penny cocked her head just as Weiss moved to close the door. “If you’re not going to watch the movie, what are you going to do?”

“Oh, I’ll find something to do, don’t worry. You go and do your thing with Blake.” With a final, almost sad smile, Weiss closed the door. Blinking in confusion for a moment, Penny shrugged and started towards the training rooms. She could work out what was up with Weiss later. Right now, she had a bug to fix.

* * *

It didn’t take too long to find Yang in the training rooms. The blonde had a habit of leaving a trail of destruction in her wake, even when training. Currently, Yang was working her way through some of the Grimm training bots Penny’s father had developed. Most of them resembled Sabyrs, and Penny watched as Yang tore her way through them, laughing as she went.

Penny waited for Yang to finish, the brawler finally coming to a halt, breathing hard as she stood in the centre of the room surrounded by dismantled robots. Penny delicately picked her way through the remains of her non-sentient brethren towards Yang, calling out to her so as to avoid surprising her and getting attacked.

“Yang?” The blonde jumped and whirled to face Penny, her fists raised, but she dropped them the moment she saw who it was.

“Oh, hey, Penny. Whatcha doing here?” She asked, stepping over to meet Penny.

“I was looking for Blake. Weiss said you’d probably know where she is.” Penny cocked her head as Yang approached. She didn’t seem to be triggering the bug either.

“Funny, she was here a little earlier looking for you.” Yang chuckled, leading the way over to one of the benches that lined the walls. “Said she had something she needed to talk to you about. Was very smug about it too, for some reason.”

“Yes, I was talking to her earlier about an issue I was having, but then the alarm went off and I was forced to leave.” Penny watched as Yang sat down and started unwrapping her fists, flexing her fingers.

“Issue? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, mostly, just a small bug in my operation that I’ve been trying to troubleshoot the last couple of hours.” Penny clasped her hands in front of her as Yang continued to give her a sceptical look.

“Any bug is still a bug, Penny. Have you talked to your father about it?”

“No, I don’t believe it’s necessary. I’ve tracked down the primary causes of the bug, and Blake says she knows what exactly it is.” Yang set aside the removed athletic tape and looked up at Penny with raised eyebrows.

“And what are the causes?”

“Well, it only manifested when I was in the presence of your team, but further experimentation today revealed that it only presents when I am around either Ruby or Weiss.” Penny explained, joining Yang on the bench.

“Okay? That’s odd. What sort of bug would have that as a cause?” Yang scratched her head. “It’s just being around them?”

“Yes, I get a tightness in my chest and my processors start to overclock.” Penny told Yang, wondering if Yang had any idea what was wrong with her. “When I told Blake, she also asked me some questions about how I feel when I see Ruby smile or frown, though I don’t know how those were diagnostically relevant.”

“Blake asked you that?!” Yang’s eyes were narrowed as Penny nodded, unsure of where this was going. “That sneaky cat thinks she’s won the bet.”

“Bet? What bet?”

“Doesn’t matter right now. Important question, you said this bug happened around Weiss as well?”

“Yes. What does that have to do with Blake?” Penny was very confused now.

“Nothing yet, but I still have a chance.” Yang smirked to herself before turning her full attention on Penny. “You said Blake asked you how you felt whenever you saw Ruby happy, right?”

“She did, specifically she asked how I feel when I see her smile.” Penny could recall the conversation perfectly, even if it was a rather confusing one.

“Okay, so tell me how you feel when you see Weiss smile.”

“I…” Penny contemplated the question. “I feel like I do when I see Ruby smile, I think, that I want her to smile all the time, and it makes me want to smile as well.” Yang’s smirk only grew wider.

“Good good. And what about when she’s upset?” That was an easy one, Penny had just earlier to use as reference.

“I feel this uncomfortable feeling in my abdomen, like a sort of clenching, and I want to move the subject away to something that will make her happier.” Yang was fully grinning now, but Penny was no less confused. “Does that mean something to you, Yang?”

“Yep, I think it means that Blake hasn’t won the bet. I mean, I didn’t either, but I didn’t lose, and that’s what matters.” Yang got up and stretched out and started for the doorway.

“Wait, Yang, what’s wrong with me?” Penny asked desperately, and Yang paused just before leaving the room.

“Nothing’s wrong with you, Penny, it just sounds like you’re in love with Ruby and Weiss.” With a wink, Yang swanned out of the room, leaving a no less confused Penny behind.

“What? I’m in love with them?” Penny said to herself, going through her memory on everything she knew about love. Sadly, it wasn’t very much, but Yang seemed fairly certain in her diagnosis, and she presumed that was what Blake diagnosed the issue as.

Could she even love someone? She was a machine, after all. Even if she had an aura, she was still artificial and fake girls didn’t have feelings. Oh, but Ruby had assured her she was a real girl, even if she wasn’t made of flesh. She’d felt so happy when Ruby had said that, like she finally had someone who understood her, and then she was even more overjoyed when Ruby had properly introduced her to Weiss.

This was strange. The clenching in her chest was back, but neither Ruby nor Weiss were around. Just thinking about them set it off? Even stranger, it didn’t feel odd or uncomfortable anymore, just sort of present, and dare she say it, pleasurable. It was all lining up in her head now, and Penny wondered how she could have missed it in the beginning. It wasn’t a bug at all.

“Oh, I’m in love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Penny is clueless land! She's adorable really and of course as far as she's aware, it's some kind of bug. Though I did possibly have a bit too much fun with Blake and Yang being smug and making bets about stuff.
> 
> I've set up a [discord](https://discord.gg/4t3y25e) so feel free to join and stuff, I'm pretty active there these days.
> 
> Big thanks to [machiavellianFictionist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/machiavellianFictionist) for proofreading and being super cute. Lots of thanks too to my lovely girlfriend [Ruby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyAndNanaAO3) for beta reading and keeping my mood up.
> 
> Thank you too to my official supporters, send a PM or hop on the discord server for details.


	6. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss has been away on a business trip and when she gets home, Ruby and Penny have some things they need to get off their chests.

Weiss wasn’t exactly sure what she’d expected when she got home from her business trip, but it wasn’t this. She and her wives had gotten a modest house on the outskirts of Vale, far more modest than one might expect for a group of women with three incomes, one of whom was the CEO of the largest corporation on Remnant.

Weiss had been gone for only a week, leaving with strict instructions to her rather reckless partners not to burn the place down whilst she was gone. She’d expected and accounted for some level of carnage and destruction on the level of the two not cleaning properly or forgetting to do the dishes. Instead, however, she found herself returning to a house that was completely spotless.

Weiss was fairly certain the house had never been this clean before, not even when they’d bought it. Something was definitely wrong here, something didn’t quite feel right about the decorations.

Carefully hanging up her coat and setting her suitcase aside by the shoe rack along with her heels, Weiss slipped carefully down the hallway, drawing her dagger. She may not be much of a huntress anymore, or carry Myrtenaster with her, but she’d be a fool not to be armed.

As she padded down the hallway, Weiss could hear the sounds of fighting from the living room. Already fearing the worst, Weiss broke into a run, skidding around the corner and bursting into the living room, blade raised.

“Weiss!” Ruby yelped, jumping about a foot into the air off the sofa. “You’re back!”

“Yes, I am.” Weiss said, tucking away her weapon in embarrassment as she now saw the movie that was playing on the big screen.

“Weiss! We missed you!” Penny squealed, jumping off the sofa as well and rushing over to embrace her wife.

“I missed you too.” Weiss patted Penny on her head as she looked around the room. Much like the hallway, the living room too was completely spotless, not a speck of dust or Dust to be seen. Ruby hovered nearby, her smile perhaps a little too wide as she grinned at her recently returned wife.

It was all very strange and suspicious, but Weiss chose not to pursue it right now. She was exhausted from her travel, and from having to deal with a bunch of prejudiced old men for an entire week. She was finally home and she just wanted to relax.

“Oh! We made dinner for when you got back!” Penny chirped, releasing Weiss and taking her by the hand to lead her into the kitchen. Penny had proven to be quite a remarkable chef. Despite not needing to eat, she’d made herself a new tongue so she could taste the food she made for her wives.

“We?” Weiss asked, her suspicions continuing to mount. Ruby wasn’t exactly the world’s best cook. Anything other than cakes or cookies inevitably ended up burned or far far sweeter than it ever should be.

“I wanted to help as well, since I know you’ll have had such a stressful week.” Ruby said as she followed the other two into the kitchen.

“That was very kind of you.” Walking into the kitchen, Penny pulled Weiss over to one of the seats at the island, gesturing for her to sit down before bustling off over to the fridge. “So, what did the two of you get up to whilst I was gone? Nothing too exciting, I hope.”

“Exciting? Of course not!” Ruby laughed nervously, and Weiss knew she couldn’t let this go. Something had definitely happened whilst she’d been gone.

“Penny.” Weiss swivelled to look at her other wife as she fiddled with the microwave. “Did something happen when I was gone?”

“No, nothing happened!” Penny denied quickly, but was interrupted by a loud hiccup, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. It was rather amusing even after all these years, Penny hadn’t managed to fix that little bug.

“Look, girls, I am very tired, it was a long flight. If you’ve got something to confess, please just say it so we can get it over with.” Weiss sighed, burying her face in her hands. She could sense her wives giving each other meaningful looks over her head.

“So, we might have told you a teeny tiny lie about nothing happening.” Ruby started and Weiss rolled her eyes.

“What a surprise.”

“Yeah, so, uh, Yang and Blake wanted to have a date night a few days ago and asked if we could look after Celeste for them.” Weiss nodded slowly. So far so good. They’d babysat for Blake and Yang several times before, and Weiss was quite proud of being aunty Weiss.

“Alright, so let me guess, something went horribly wrong.”

“It was Ruby’s fault!” Penny accused suddenly, pointing at their wife, who muttered something about her being a traitor.

“You didn’t stop me!” Ruby fired back and Weiss just groaned loudly.

“Please, just tell me what happened.”

“Well, you know how Celeste wants to go to Signal in a few years when she’s old enough?” Weiss nodded, she was starting to see where things were going. “She wanted to see some of the things I was working on in the workshop.”

“And you let her. Even though Yang has very strong feelings about Celeste playing with weapons.” Weiss sighed, already knowing how this would end. Normally, the house was littered with bits and pieces from Ruby’s projects, something else Weiss had noticed was absent when she’d returned. The only time the house wasn’t was when Celeste came to stay and Ruby had to tidy up all her things into her workshop. 

“You know how powerful her puppy eyes are, you can’t resist them either.” Ruby protested, folding her arms with a huff.

“I can resist.” Weiss huffed only for Penny to contradict her immediately.

“You bought her that new games console for her birthday, even though it cost a couple of thousand lien, because she gave you the puppy eyes.” Weiss didn’t have much of a retort for this, so she settled for the first thing that sprang to mind.

“The poor girl had a hard life, she deserves to be spoiled a little.” She grumbled, not wanting to acknowledge that Ruby was right about none of them being able to resist Celeste’s wide-eyed stare. “So what happened after you took her into your workshop?”

“Celeste may have asked if she could try out that new flamethrower gauntlet I’ve been working on.” Ruby shrank back sheepishly as Weiss rubbed the bridge of her nose in exhaustion.

“The one that you said could punch through five inches of solid steel?”

“Six, actually.”

“Not the point, Ruby.” Weiss groaned, already imagining just how much carnage she’d missed. “How much damage was there?”

“Um, well, she kinda set most of the workshop on fire and punched several holes in the walls as she panicked.” Ruby explained.

“The wall-punching ended up knocking down all the photos and breaking the frames.” Penny added helpfully as she returned to preparing Weiss’ meal.

“Did anything else happen?” Weiss asked, already knowing that something else must have happened from the guilty look that remained on Ruby’s face.

“So, I may have thought that the best way to get the gauntlet off her was to use my new snare disarmer.” Ruby flinched back, waiting for the inevitable explosion.

“So you thought that the best way to solve giving a child a highly dangerous barely tested weapon was to use another highly dangerous barely tested weapon on her?” Weiss asked in deep exasperation. She was far far too tired to muster up much righteous rage for this.

“Technically, the snare disarmer is only moderately dangerous.” Ruby pointed out, only to receive a baleful look from Weiss. “Right, not the point.”

“So you tried to disarm Yang and Blake’s daughter. Then what happened?”

“It, um, didn’t work.” Shuffling awkwardly on the spot, Ruby was looking anywhere except at Weiss. “It sort of missed, and you know that vase you really liked that Winter got you as a housewarming present?”

“Yes…”

“It may have gotten a teeny tiny bit smashed.” Ruby confessed in a rush. “I’m sorry!”

“Right, so the vase got smashed and our house got trashed. Penny, what were you doing whilst all this was happening?” Weiss asked the suspiciously quiet woman, who froze halfway through taking a dish out of the oven.

“I was trying to put out the fire.” No hiccups this time, so she was telling the truth, though Weiss suspected it wasn’t the whole truth.

“What went wrong?”

“I thought it would be more efficient to remove the top of the fire extinguisher so as to cover a wider area a lot faster.” Penny said, and Weiss let out a weak groan.

“We have powder extinguishers, Penny. Please don’t tell me what you’re about to tell me.”

“The powder went everywhere and did nothing to stop the fires.” Penny confirmed, and with another long groan, Weiss’ head thunked onto the table.

“You know what? I don’t think I need to hear any more. I presume from the fact that the two of you are still alive that Celeste didn’t get hurt.”

“Nope, she was just really kinda scared, and Yang and Blake did shout at us for a while for being, and I quote, ‘reckless, irresponsible and unaware of how fire extinguishers work’.” Ruby said with a small frown.

“I’m pretty sure they didn’t really mean it all, they were just scared for Celeste.” Penny reassured Ruby, placing the steaming dish on the heatproof mat on the island and patting Ruby on the shoulder.

“So when did this happen?” Weiss asked, getting up to grab a plate and some cutlery for the fish pie Penny had made. Ruby mumbled something incoherent and Weiss turned around to look at her sternly. “What did you say?”

“The day you left.” Ruby muttered quietly, this being the final straw.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Weiss screeched, the dam on her anger finally bursting. “I was gone for less than a day and you managed to destroy the house and endanger our niece!?”

“I’m sorry, Weiss!” Ruby wailed, tears leaking from her eyes. “We didn’t mean to, and we spent the entire time you were gone after we got chewed out by Yang and Blake fixing and tidying the house.”

“Were you doing that to make up for the mistake? Or was it to avoid me finding out?” Weiss asked shrewdly, and Penny and Ruby exchanged glances.

“It was the latter.” Penny admitted, her shoulders slumping. “We’re both really sorry, Weiss.”

Weiss let out a deep and long sigh, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. “Nobody got hurt? And everything got fixed?”

“Everything except the vase. Penny tried to glue it back together, but it didn’t work.” Ruby nodded, still a little teary and sniffling.

“Then it’s okay. I’m glad nobody got hurt.” Weiss set her plate and cutlery down and walked around the island to pull Ruby into a tight hug. “Please don’t do it again though. Yang will probably murder you if you endanger her daughter again, even if you are her sister.” Ruby nodded against Weiss and Weiss held out an arm, inviting Penny to join the hug. “And you, no more breaking the fire extinguishers.”

“Yes, Weiss.” Penny said with a smile.

“Is that everything that happened?” Ruby and Penny nodded. “Good. Now, I’m starving and exhausted, and I would very much like to eat my dinner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to go for straight comedy with this one whilst pretty much ignoring what the prompt implied. I enjoy domestic stuff, especially when it's the set up for ridiculousness worthy of some screwball comedy film. It's a good thing no one got injured, I suspect things might have gone quite a bit worse if someone had.
> 
> I've set up a [discord](https://discord.gg/4t3y25e) so feel free to join and stuff, I'm pretty active there these days.
> 
> Big thanks to [machiavellianFictionist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/machiavellianFictionist) for proofreading and being super helpful with these. Lots of thanks too to my lovely girlfriend [Ruby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyAndNanaAO3) for beta reading and being just the best.
> 
> Thank you too to my official supporters, send a PM or hop on the discord server for details.


	7. Combat Skirts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby and Weiss have decided that they need to get Penny a new outfit, one with a combat skirt and most importantly, pockets.

“Um, Ruby, Weiss. I’m glad you care about my outfit, but is this really necessary?” Penny asked as she was led through downtown Vale by the two girls.

“Of course it is, Penny.” Ruby chirped with a wide smile. “Combat skirts are an essential part of any huntress’ outfit.”

“But I have one already.” Penny pointed out, tugging on the hem as Weiss let out a haughty laugh.

“Darling, calling that a combat skirt would be like me calling any old fish eggs caviar.” Weiss scoffed, turning to face Penny with a frown.

“But isn’t caviar fish eggs?” Penny asked, and Weiss let out a deep sigh.

“Technically, yes, but they are of a far higher calibre, just like a properly fitted combat skirt will be far superior to your current garb.” Weiss gave Penny’s clothes a disparaging look, which she took a little offence at. True, it might not be the most fashionable clothing and had been designed by her father. Although he had many talents, tailoring wasn’t one of them.

“Weiss isn’t being mean on purpose, Penny, she’s just prickly.” Ruby reassured her girlfriend, patting her on the shoulder. “And she wouldn’t do this if she didn’t like you. Gift-giving is Weiss’ love language.”

“I don’t like Penny!” Weiss shrieked, turning beet red and hastily storming off, leaving Ruby to giggle away. Penny didn’t hold Weiss’ denial of her feelings against her, the poor girl had grown up in a household where affection was currency and was only ever shown as a calculated gesture. Still, it didn’t stop Ruby from teasing the heiress about her fairly obvious attraction to her and her girlfriend.

“Ruby.” Penny chided gently. “Don’t tease her so much, please.”

“But it’s so much fun though!” Ruby pouted at her disapproving girlfriend before relenting. “Fine, I’ll ease up. It would be nice if she didn’t deny her feelings any time they’re brought up.”

“It would. We should just be patient though.” Ruby nodded with a hum of agreement and trotted after Weiss with Penny in tow, adding over her shoulder.

“She’s not wrong though, you could do with some better clothes and a proper combat skirt.” Ruby laughed a little as she grabbed Penny by the wrist and hauled her over to where Weiss was waiting impatiently outside a boutique.

“Took you long enough. Now, let’s get you measured.” Weiss announced, leading the way inside the shop with her not-quite-girlfriends in tow. It was by far the fanciest shop Penny had ever been to, not that she’d been to very many though. They were immediately greeted by an assistant, who Weiss started conversing with in rapid Atlesian, gesturing to Penny every so often, reminding her that she really should get that language module installed sometime.

“Would you want to stick with your current colour scheme, Penny, or try something a bit different?” Weiss asked her, and she blinked a couple of times as she thought.

“I think I would like to try something different, though could I keep the green?” She requested, and Weiss nodded thoughtfully.

“I’m pretty sure they can accommodate that, yes?” She asked the shop assistant, who nodded vigorously.

“Of course, madam.” She said, switching effortlessly back to Valish like Weiss had. “We shall find some pieces immediately.” She snapped her fingers and a couple other assistants hurried away into the back of the store whilst the main one ushered the three forward to a plush sofa in front of a small pedestal. “If you would come with me, madam, I shall take your measurements.” Hesitantly, Penny followed the woman into a curtained off section.

“I can give you my full specifications to three decimal places if you would like.” Penny offered, and the woman gave her a strange look before shaking it off with a small laugh.

“That’s very kind of you, but I prefer to take measurements myself.” The woman smiled reassuringly. “This can be a little embarrassing, but I’m going to need you to remove your dress and blouse so I can measure you accurately.”

“Oh, okay?” Penny shrugged and shucked her clothes, folding them neatly and setting them aside. She wasn’t entirely sure why people would find this embarrassing, the assistant was just doing her job.

It was a little strange, Penny didn’t have many touch sensors on her body, so it was an odd sensation to have the woman pressing the measuring tape against her. The lady was just measuring her waist when the curtain was pulled aside and Weiss wandered in.

“Penny, Ruby and I just found the cutest ski-ohmigodyou’reinyourunderwear!” Weiss yelped, burying her face in her hands in mortification and drawing Ruby’s attention from outside.

“Weiss? What’s going o-oooooohhhhhh.” Ruby’s head popped around the curtain and turned as red as her cloak as blood started dripping from her nose.

“Are you alright, Ruby? You seem to be bleeding.” Penny asked in confusion as the assistant tried to hold herself back from laughing whilst shooing the two women out of the room.

“Out, out!” She insisted, pushing them out and closing the curtain behind them.

“I should probably make sure Ruby is alright.” Penny tried to leave but was stopped by a firm hand.

“Not dressed like that and I’m sure your girlfriend is fine.” The assistant told her, guiding Penny back to the centre of the area and continuing to take the measurements. “Both your girlfriends sure are characters, aren’t they?”

“Oh, Weiss isn’t my girlfriend, just a friend.” Penny chirped helpfully, earning a raised eyebrow from the woman.

“Just a friend brought you to one of the more expensive outfitters for huntresses and is paying for whatever you want?”

Penny gasped in shock. “I told her she didn’t have to pay!”

“That’s not what she said to me just now. She said money is no object.” The woman smirked as she measured Penny’s inseam and jotted it down on her scroll. Penny frowned, she knew Weiss liked buying things for people she liked, but this was far too much.

She waited patiently for the women to finish taking her measurements, thinking as to what she was going to say to Weiss about this. The moment the woman finished with the final measurement, Penny donned her clothing and strode out of the changing area to find Ruby and Weiss waiting. Ruby was leaning forward with a tissue held to her nose and Weiss was sitting regally as though this was her domain, which it probably was.

“Weiss, you don’t have to pay for everything.” Penny said the moment she got up to them, and Weiss frowned in confusion.

“Why not? I have the money, more than enough, in fact.” Weiss seemed genuinely perplexed.

“Weiss, I can’t just accept money from you like this.” Penny insisted, trying to make Weiss understand. “I have plenty of money myself. I’ve got funding from Atlas military.”

“But I like spending money on you.” Weiss cocked her head in confusion. “And if I don’t spend it, what else am I going to do with it? Besides, spending money is pretty much all I’m good for.”

“Weiss, don’t say that.” Ruby’s voice was thick and muffled by the tissue. “You’re worth more than your money.”

“Not really, I’m cold and mean and prejudiced.” Weiss mumbled. “I can’t even express my emotions properly, and I’ve got more issues than the Daily Vale. Spending money is all I’m good for.”

“It’s not.” Penny sat down beside Weiss and reached out for her hand. “You’re kind and brave and determined and generous. That last one you definitely can’t deny given how much you like to spend money on us.” Penny insisted, and smiled a little at how Weiss’ face went bright red.

“Stoooooop.” She whined, batting lightly at Penny only to have her free hand seized by Ruby.

“We both really like you, Weiss, for way more than your money.” Ruby cooed, nuzzling into Weiss’ side.

“We’re in public.” Weiss hissed, though she’d stopped trying to escape the couple’s embrace and sat huffily as Penny joined Ruby in nuzzling against Weiss.

“So? We’re just three girlfriends out on a shopping trip.” Ruby said with a devious smirk and Penny felt Weiss stiffen beneath her.

“But I’m not your girlfriend...”

“Do you want to be?” Penny asked plainly and Weiss blushed even more.

“We’re supposed to be getting Penny a combat skirt.” She tried to protest, but Ruby wouldn’t let it go.

“Just a yes or a no, Weiss. Do you want to be our girlfriend?” Smiling guilelessly up at Weiss, Penny wasn’t sure how the heiress was able to hold out for so long. Her face twisted and contorted as she tried to resist Ruby’s charms, but as most people do, she broke down in the face of Ruby’s puppy eyes.

“Yes, I would like that very much.” She admitted, before doing her best to bury her face in Ruby’s shoulder out of sheer embarrassment.

“Wonderful!” Penny released Weiss to hop to her feet and walked over to the awaiting shop assistants. “And to digress, you’re not buying me a new outfit, Weiss, I can do it myself.” Weiss pulled back and opened her mouth to protest but she was silenced by Ruby.

“You can buy us something less expensive, like coffee or something when we’re done here.” Weiss didn’t look too happy with this, but relented with a small nod, letting Penny skip away to start trying on outfits. Just before she closed the curtain, there was one last call from Weiss.

“Make sure you get one with pockets!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So originally this was going to be a more straightforward shopping montage, but then I realised I wouldn't be able to get in the light angst that I have to include in almost all of my stories. 
> 
> I've set up a [discord](https://discord.gg/4t3y25e) so feel free to join and stuff, I'm pretty active there these days.
> 
> Big thanks to [machiavellianFictionist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/machiavellianFictionist) for proofreading and being the best at it. Lots of thanks too to my lovely girlfriend [Ruby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyAndNanaAO3) for beta reading and being the cutest girlfriend ever.
> 
> Thank you too to my official supporters, send a PM or hop on the discord server for details.


	8. Free Day/Vacuo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The desert of Vacuo poses its own unique challenges, most notably, all the sand. It's coarse and rough and gets everywhere, like in Penny's gears.

It was official. Weiss hated Vacuo the most out of all the Kingdoms, even more than her homeland and its frigid temperature and even more frigid people.

“Who thought living in a desert was a good idea?!” She groaned for the fifth time as she, Ruby and Penny slogged their way through seemingly endless dunes. When Weiss had woken up that morning in the oppressive and sweltering heat, this was not how she’d expected her day to end up going.

The three of them were supposed to be out on a simple search and destroy, but what had been supposed to be a single Dromedon had ended up being a whole herd. Even if they hadn’t been informed of the true scope of the mission, it shouldn’t have been so much of an issue for a Maiden, a silver-eyed warrior and… Weiss. No, the issue ended up being an annoyingly cunning attack by the herd, which had rendered their airship completely inoperable and left them stranded in the middle of the desert.

Ruby and Weiss had tried to insist upon Penny flying back to civilisation to get them help, but the robot had steadfastly refused to leave her girlfriends in such straits. There was one positive side to Penny staying with them, her location tracking software was still functional, so they at least weren’t wandering around in circles.

Weiss was fairly certain she was suffering the most on this long trek to the nearest settlement. She was used to a far cooler climate than the blazing hot desert, even wearing all white didn’t help a great deal either, and Weiss was sure she’d be awfully sunburned soon. To add insult to overheating, she’d been forced to abandon wearing heels when they’d arrived in Vacuo. They didn’t exactly work on sand.

Glancing over at Ruby, Weiss was relatively unsurprised to see she too was not doing so well. Her insistence on maintaining her ‘aesthetic’ was clearly coming back to bite her as she sweated away in her many layers of petticoats.

Out of all of them, Penny seemed to be handing the heat the best. She gave no indication of any discomfort as she just marched across the dunes. Then again, Weiss had never known Penny to show any pain or discomfort, or even tiredness ever before.

Now that she was thinking about it, that was actually a rather concerning thought. Picking up the pace a little, Weiss ran up to Penny to look at her closely. Nothing seemed off about Penny, but as Weiss had just deduced, looks could be deceiving.

“Penny, are you feeling alright?” She asked, catching her girlfriend’s attention.

“Yes? I’m fine, Weiss.” Penny smiled at Weiss for a second before hiccuping loudly.

“What was that?” Weiss narrowed her eyes at Penny, whose eyes started darting around nervously.

“Nothing.” Again she hiccuped loudly and clapped a hand over her mouth. The conversation had caught Ruby’s attention and she joined them on Penny’s other side.

“What’s up?”

“I think there’s something wrong with Penny.” Weiss told her, frowning at her surprisingly stubborn girlfriend.

“No there is-.” Penny didn’t even get to finish her sentence before hiccupping, only this time something sprayed out of her mouth.

“Brothers! Was that sand?!” Weiss shrieked, leaning in to look at Penny’s mouth. “Penny, why did you just spit up sand?!”

“Because I have approximately 873 grams of sand currently stuck in my chassis.”

“What?!” Ruby joined in on the shrieking, running a hand over Penny’s abdomen. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because it has not yet fatally compromised my systems yet. I am currently operating at 43% efficiency.” Penny said, and Weiss was fairly certain she saw a faint glimmer of guilt in Penny’s eyes.

“Not yet implies it will eventually. How can it cause so much damage, and how can you even have so much sand inside you?” Weiss asked incredulously, already trying to come up with the best solution for this. Surely there was some kind of access panel they could use to try to clear Penny out.

“It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.” Penny explained. “It gets in through the exposed joints on my legs and other orifices which were not equipped with the correct filters for this environment.”

“And it abrades your inner workings?” Ruby sounded very worried now, her brows knitted in concern.

“Correct,. This desert environment is actually quite damaging to my chassis, I haven’t even mentioned the heat.” Penny’s eyes suddenly widened and her mouth slammed shut, but it was too late.

“What about the heat, Penny?” Weiss glowered at her girlfriend. “Tell us.” Penny only shook her head, leaving her girlfriends exchanging irked looks until comprehension dawned on Ruby’s face.

“Oh shit. Your processors!”

“Her what?” Weiss asked, confused. She would be the first to admit she wasn’t particularly mechanically minded, so whenever talk began about Penny’s body, Weiss found herself rather lost.

“Her processors, the things that let her think. They’re computers, and computers don’t run well when they’re hot, they need to be cooled down.” Ruby explained rapidly before looking to Penny in fear. “Penny, you should have said something! How bad is it?”

“My cooling systems failed seventeen minutes ago and my core temperature had been rising steadily since then.” Penny admitted sheepishly, unable to look Ruby or Weiss in the eye.

“That doesn’t explain why you didn’t say anything!”

“If my body shuts down, I will be okay. My backup power source will maintain my aura, I will just be asleep. You and Ruby don’t have such a luxury. If you overheat, you get heatstroke and die. My parts are easily replaced, yours aren’t. Your health is more of a priority than mine.”

“What rot!” Weiss growled, starting to look through her back up Dust satchel. “Your health, for lack of a better word, is important to us. Here.” Weiss pulled an Ice Dust crystal out of her satchel and shoved it into Penny’s hands. “I don’t know enough about how your circuits and gizmos work, but that Dust should help you cool down.”

“Thank you, Weiss.” Penny smiled a little before it slipped into a guilty frown. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my body’s issues.”

“Just don’t do it again.” Weiss said and Ruby nodded fervently in agreement. “You two work on getting Penny fixed up, I’m going to check if there’s anything in sight.” Ruby and Penny got to work as Weiss started up the next dune.

It was definitely official. Vacuo was the absolute worst, and Weiss was finding that she really did not like sand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, this one was written because of two things. First: I did want to throw them all into a new scenario and Vacuo seemed like a fun thing to write and second: I wanted to get that quote in there, I just had to.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this week of oneshots, I'll be back to my regularly scheduled updates tomorrow. Thank you all for reading!
> 
> I've set up a [discord](https://discord.gg/4t3y25e) so feel free to join and stuff, I'm pretty active there these days.
> 
> Big thanks to [machiavellianFictionist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/machiavellianFictionist) for proofreading and being able to keep up with my ridiculous amounts of output. Lots of thanks too to my lovely girlfriend [Ruby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyAndNanaAO3) for beta reading and being a hella cutie.
> 
> Thank you too to my official supporters, send a PM or hop on the discord server for details.


End file.
